The United Kingdom has confirmed that one of its Royal Navy nuclear-powered submarines surfaced close to the Yantar, a notorious Russian spy ship late last year, to make it clear it was being observed. The revelation came as the Royal Navy was once again closely tracking the Russian ship after it returned to British waters. According to the U.K. defense secretary, theYantar has, in recent months, been “mapping the U.K.’s critical underwater infrastructure,” at a time when NATO, in general, is increasingly concerned about apparent sabotage to undersea cables.
The Yantar was sailing in British waters in November last year, during which time U.K. Defense Secretary John Healey said it had been “detected loitering over U.K. critical undersea infrastructure.”
Interestingly, Healey disclosed that a Royal Navy submarine was among the assets tasked with shadowing the Yantar when it was in British waters back in November. The defense secretary said that warships and patrol aircraft were also involved in tracking the Russian vessel.
At one point, the submarine surfaced close to the Yantar “to make clear that we had been covertly monitoring its every move,” he said.
The submarine wasn’t named but will have been one of the five currently active Astute class attack submarines.
The Russian vessel then moved into Irish waters east of Dublin, sparking worries that it might be conducting espionage on critical energy and internet submarine pipelines and cables running between the United Kingdom and Ireland. The spy ship was later escorted out of the Irish Sea.
It’s rare for the U.K. government to release any kind of information about the activities of its nuclear-powered submarine fleet, especially regarding such sensitive surveillance missions. In this case, the information was likely made public to dissuade Russia from further espionage directed against critical underwater infrastructure.
The tactic may have been effective anyway, with Healey saying that, during its latest venture into British waters, this week, the Yantar didn’t remain on station for any longer period and was closely escorted throughout its journey by the Type 23 frigate HMS Somerset and the Riverclass offshore patrol vessel HMS Tyne.
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